


Three Ships Mal Liked and One He Loved

by mollivanders



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen, Prequel, Slave Trade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-06-28
Updated: 2009-06-28
Packaged: 2017-10-30 11:14:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/331156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mollivanders/pseuds/mollivanders
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Mal goes into space he's acting as courier for a cattle shipment his mother is sending off-world, so his first venture in to space is also his first time smuggling illegal cargo across interplanetary borders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Ships Mal Liked and One He Loved

_Serenity_ isn't the first boat Malcolm Reynolds shipped out on. Of course, he was on plenty of ships during the war, but those didn't _count_. Those weren't his and didn't give him purpose. Others did.

I.

The first time Mal goes into space he's acting as courier for a cattle shipment his mother is sending off-world, so his first venture in to space is also his first time smuggling illegal cargo across interplanetary borders. He's sixteen and so thrilled to be out in space and out from his mother's careful watch that he barely thinks about the cattle lowing in the hold. He spends the first day with his eyes glued to the porthole, watching the stars stream by.

The job takes them from Shadow to Beaumonde where he and the crew make the trade with some ranchers getting a start. They were far more interested in cutting costs than abiding by arbitrary laws whose only purpose was to take a cut of their profit, and Mal finds that oddly admirable. From there the crew heads to Santo where his mother has arranged for them to purchase some seed and nutrient supplements. Times are hard and Mrs. Reynolds is hedging her bets. Cattle need to be fed; better to have feed on hand than buy it from someone else. Mal's first job goes without significant incident and it leaves him with the impression that when you have a ship, you're unstoppable.

That ship's name was _The Orchid_.

 

II.

The second time Mal ships out, it's with a crew that transports workers and families from the central planets to settle terraformed worlds. On this boat, Mal works in inventory and guarding the lockers, and while it's monotonous work, at least he's on the move. At twenty-two, he already understands that when you put down roots, you're an easy target. Every time he sends a wave to his mother back on Shadow she begs him to come back and help her with the ranch but the thought makes him uneasy.

If he had any intention of settling on a planet and raising a family, living like normal folk, they were shattered on a run they did about fifteen months after he signed on. They had already dropped off two groups of settlers on Lilac and were making a third transport. The world was growing fast, mainly due to the discovery of spices that could be mined near the surface. There was plenty of work available and folk weren't likely to pass that up if they were already on hard times.

When they landed to drop off the third transport, however, they found the growing town they were dropping people off at had just been hit by slavers. They had come in the night and taken whoever they could drag back to their ships. There was actually a riot of people trying to board the ship and the new settlers weren't really interested in getting off either, though the captain told them they'd have to pay for passage back. From what Mal saw, nothing good came of being settled, and Lilac never prospered after that, being an easy target for slavers so far from civilization.

That ship was _The Wanderer_.

 

III.

After his stint transporting citizens to new worlds, Mal joined up with a small crew that handled jobs as they come and didn't ask too many questions. He comes to idolize the captain who takes him under his wing. It's from Captain Danneskjold (everyone called him Captain Dan) that Mal learns to shoot a pistol fast and right, how to negotiate, and how to spot lawmen posing as passengers. The captain gives Mal the job of being there when the trade goes down, in case he needed a sharp gunman or caustic wit to make their point known. They do the job, and they get paid for it. Period.

Working with Captain Dan puts the idea in Mal's head again of starting up his own crew. The captain lets Mal know that if he stays on long enough he could make pilot or first mate; it'd be the experience he'd need to get a real start. If he moved on later, it would be good to know who someone you could call on or do deals with. Mal lets himself plan more than a day in advance.

Then without warning the rebellion against the Alliance starts, and Mal finds himself having to choose a side, even within the ship. Captain Dan won't tolerate anyone with too loud an opinion though, aiming to steer clear of trouble and survive. Someone in the crew takes this to be support for the rebellion, however, and sends a wave to the Alliance notifying them of the ship's destination.

The crew is lucky the attack comes when they're approaching Bernadette to finish a job because the Alliance has taken to shooting first and not asking questions, ever. Seven of the crew make it onto the shuttle but the captain won't leave his ship. Mal's last memory of Dan is him slamming the shuttle door shut and hitting the release button. He doesn't know if the mole got off the ship and tries not to think about wanting to kill someone he had shipped out with for ten months.

Two days after the crew hits the planet and disperses Mal finds the local Browncoat group and volunteers.

Captain Dan's ship was _Striker_.

 

IV.

When he sees her lying at the outskirts of the junkyard, Mal just knows she's the one. She looks like she's already perched for flight and he can barely hear the salesman behind him yapping on about the hunk of yellow junk punching the sky behind them. This one, though... he knows Fireflies. They can be a little hard to manage, but with a good mechanic she could be everything.

Zoe has a slightly different perspective on the ship.

Mal looks at her expectantly. "Well?" Zoe gives him the look before venturing to speak. "You paid money for this, sir? On purpose?" Mal is taken aback. "What? Come on, seriously, Zoe. Whaddya think?"

She clears her throat carefully before speaking. "Honestly, sir. I think you got robbed."

"Robbed? What, no. What do you mean?"

"It's a piece of fei-oo."

"Fei-oo? Okay. She won't be winning any beauty contests anytime soon. But she is solid. Ship like this, be with ya 'til the day you die."

"'Cause it's a deathtrap," Zoe points out.

Mal blanches, discouraged that she doesn't see what he sees. Yet. She'll get there. "That's not... you are very much lacking in imagination."

"I imagine that's so, sir," Zoe returns, trying not to laugh. At misfortune or at him, she's not sure.

"C'mon. You ain't even seen most of it," Mal grumbles. "I'll show you the rest. And try to see past what she is, and on to what she can be."

Zoe hesitates. "What's that, sir?" Mal grins, incorrigible in his dreams for this ship. "Freedom, is what." Zoe sighs. "No, I meant what's that?"

Mal pauses; looks down in confusion. "Oh. Yeah. Just step around it. I think something must've been living in here."

He continues to ramble about the possibilities to his first mate's ever-more concerned ear. "I tell ya, Zoe, we find ourselves a mechanic, get her running again. Hire a good pilot. Maybe even a cook. Live like real people. Small crew, them as feel the need to be free. Take jobs as they come -- and we'll never be under the heel of nobody ever again. No matter how long the arm of the Alliance might get, we'll just get ourselves a little further."

"Get her running again?" Zoe cannot help but point out. What had possessed him to buy this instead of something operational?, she wondered.

Mal pauses again, awkward for a moment before pushing on. "Yeah." "So not running now?" Mal tries not to look at her. "Not so much...but she will."

They move deeper into the ship, Mal picking up the outline for his dream again, determined to win Zoe over.

"I already know what I'm gonna call her. Got a named all picked out..."

_Serenity._

_Finis_

ETA: This story was recorded at Strangely Literal [here](http://www.strangelyliteral.com/2010/03/strangely-literal-episode-092-three-ships-mal-liked-and-one-he-loved-firefly/), read by Gene Wilburn.


End file.
